Students, wearing 3-D glasses watch a demonstration of new technologies by Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie at RPI's EMPAC building in Troy Tuesday afternoon November 2, 2010. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

Students, wearing 3-D glasses watch a demonstration of new technologies by Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie at RPI's EMPAC building in Troy Tuesday afternoon November 2, 2010. (John ... more

RPI student Vincent Riemer of Canton,Mass., wears 3-D glasses during a demonstration of new technologies by Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie at RPI's EMPAC building in Troy Tuesday afternoon November 2, 2010. (John Carl D'Annibale / Times Union) less

RPI student Vincent Riemer of Canton,Mass., wears 3-D glasses during a demonstration of new technologies by Microsoft chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie at RPI's EMPAC building in Troy Tuesday ... more

Photo: John Carl D'Annibale

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Into -- and part of -- the game

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TROY -- Talk about becoming part of the game.

The top researcher at Microsoft Corp. came to the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy on Tuesday to demonstrate the technology behind the new Kinect console for Xbox 360, which will be released Thursday and is expected to be one of the hottest gifts this holiday season.

Kinect, essentially a sensor that allows Xbox 360 users to become part of a video game, will retail for about $150 and must be used with the main Xbox 360 system.

Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief research and strategy officer, was at RPI's EMPAC Concert Hall to show off just what the new gadget can do -- and to explain why Microsoft had introduced the "killer app" he predicts will shake up the video game market.

Kinect is different than the Nintendo Wii or the new Playstation Move systems that use a mechanical wand-like device to manipulate video game movement.

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Kinect uses a video sensor to see how a person moves and uses what's called "machine vision" to place a person in a video game.

Microsoft already has several games lined up for Kinect, including sports, dancing, exercise and car racing titles.

"We're doing all this processing with very little special circuitry," Mundie said.

He said he wanted to show what he and his colleagues at Microsoft believe will be the next generation of computing technologies. He believes that sensors like the one used in the Kinect system will drive the next generation of computer technologies, which could be used in industries ranging from health care to education and entertainment.

Microsoft has even tested a video receptionist at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters that interacts with employees.

Mundie said that in the future, such "avatars" could work as robotic triage doctors to diagnose common childhood diseases.

RPI passed out 3-D glasses to the hundreds of students, faculty and staff who attended Mundie's talk. As he demonstrated some of Microsoft's sensor and video technology, items on a special 3-D screen appeared to float and spin above the audience.

Characters in a special video game also interacted with Mundie when he "approached" them in the game as he was scanned by a special Microsoft sensor similar to the one used in the Kinect system.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," Mundie said.

Mundie said there were special issues that Microsoft has to address with Kinect. For instance, people playing Kinect games could feel so engrossed in the game that they end up running onto the television. He said the game automatically slows down to prevent that.

"It actually keeps people from running into the screen." Mundie said. "There's a lot of subtlety not only in how the system is designed but also in the games."

One student asked Mundie if Kinect wasn't just a ripoff of the Wii concept. Mundie disagreed, saying that Wii uses a game control that was just more advanced than previous hand-held controls. Kinect has no controls.

"The Wii was essentially another mechanical device," Mundie said. "We had a goal that was a lot broader. We're very happy with our initial offering."

Larry Rulison can be reached at 454-5504 or by e-mail at lrulison@timesunion.com.